This was a comprehensive hip hop, film and urban culture blog written entirely by an information junkie/graphomaniac Bostonian ex emcee/film student/record and video store manager/graf writer/streetballer called Dart Adams.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Last night concluded the Democratic National Convention where Barack Obama became the official Democratic nominee to run for president in November and he chose Senator Joe Biden as his running mate for Vice President. At first I was apprehensive because I don't know much about Joe Biden, but after hearing his speech two nights ago all of my worries were soon elleviated.

Last night, in front of almost 100,000 collected Democrats in Denver, CO and the world thanks to several television news networks covering the event Barack Obama delivered an impassioned speech on the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's iconic "I Have A Dream" speech. It was viewed as a home run by the overwhelming majority of Democrats (except for the diehard Hilary supporters who will vote for John McCain (?)) as well as a surprising amount of Republicans and Independents.

The Obama/Biden ticket will go against the newly formed ticket of McCain/Palin now that John McCain has chosen Sarah Palin, a governor from a small town (population: 6, 500) in Alaska with little experience in big time politics as his presidential running mate. She shares his views on several issues but is a huge liability in most others.

Either way, the Obama/Biden ticket has the official endorsement of Poisonous Paragraphs for the 2008 presidential race and I will continue to write about politics or whatever the hell I feel like for the duration of this blog's run. If you have a problem with the fact that I'm not willing to live with another 4 years of the same bullshit that I've endured for the past 8 already then read another blog.

This week I'll be reviewing three new albums that leaked in the following order: Young Jeezy "The Recession", Brooklyn Academy "Bored Of Education" and Madlib "Beat Konducta Vol. 5 Dil Cosby Suite". For those of you new to the party, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here's how my "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:

Oh No! This CD is a drink coaster/table balancer/doorstop/gerbil/hamster room divider/frisbee/discus/makeshift shield/last ditch choice for a visor/alternate shuriken choice. Sell this shit to whoever is dumb enough to buy it from you.

Maeby (Maybe)! Depending on your own set of personal preferences you might like this joint. Give it a listen first to see if it's in your lane or not.

Dart's Take: I'm not a Young Jeezy fan by any stretch of the imagination but I think this is his best album to date. This is the first album that he's recorded that I was actually able to sit through from beginning to end without having to force myself or stop a track. While none of the tracks were straight up wack, this still isn't my pyrex pot of cooked crack. I guess the political leanings made it possible for me to stomach this album.

With all that said the best I can do is give it a maybe but if you're a fan of Young Jeezy or music of the like you should be thoroughly impressed by this album. Young Jeezy isn't gonna get much better than a maybe from me unless he somehow stepped his pen game and spit game up dramatically. You know what it is. *Plays a few Elzhi tracks before continuing with review blog*

Best Joints: One, Raise Ya Hands, We Don't Play, This Is Brooklyn, That's Brooklyn, The Growler, Hide, Tear It Down, Blame It On The Alcohol (?), Splash, Black Out, Suicide, Close Your Eyes, Back In Effect, What's The Buzz and Nothing You Can Do.

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: This album reminded me of the old 12"s and the Will Tell compilations I used to cop from Sandbox Automatic back in the early 00's. Block McCloud, Pumpkinhead, Ocean The Bad Seed and Jean Grae all spitting fire over tracks with guest appearances from Non Phixion, The Arsonists and Thirstin Howl The 3rd. They still have the same hunger, pen game and intensity they had back then, which is commendable.

Brooklyn Academy came with it on this project and exceeded my expectations. By the way, I TOLD y'all Jean Grae didn't quit! (She's "retired" at least 5 times previously by my count..ask Pumpkinhead, Mr. Len, or Meat Pie for proof!). This album is lyrically and sonically on point but it's not great so I'll give it a recommended maybe. Check for it.

Dart's Take: It's Madlib, dammit! When y'all known Otis Jackson Jr. to make some wack shit? Even though I was kinda sore that Madvilliany 2 was just remixes and refixes of the original Madvillian it was still crazy like a weekend with DMX. This joint is off the wall like MJ in 1979, cop this on iTunes as soon as bloody possible beatheads. This is the lone mos def recipient of the week.

Vital Information About Dart

If you don't know who I am by now then Google my previous work from 2006 to the present day. I'm one of the people your favorite writers, journalists & bloggers ask for help or information. I'm also the dude wack writers & fake journalists fear more than Spell/GrammarCheck.